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What Detroit Red Wings are waiting for from draft pick Evgeny Svechnikov

With the hockey world on pause because of the coronavirus pandemic, this is an opportunity to check in on Detroit Red Wings prospects.

This edition takes a look at Evgeny Svechnikov. When the Wings drafted the 6-foot-3, 208-pound right wing 19th overall in 2015, he was billed by then-director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright as “the complete package — size, strength and skill. There's not one thing he doesn't do very well.”

Five years later, the Wings are still waiting on Svechnikov, who missed the 2018-19 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the exhibition season.

Svechnikov, 23, had 11 goals and 14 assists, and a minus-10 rating in 51 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins when the AHL shut down March 12, the same day the NHL did. His best stretch came Feb. 8-18, when he had a five-game points streak (five goals, three assists) but he had just two points, both assists, in nine games after that.

Detroit Red Wings right wing Evgeny Svechnikov (37) reacts after his goal during the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, in Detroit.(Photo: Carlos Osorio/Associated Press)

“With Svech, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster year,” Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff said in an interview with the Free Press. “I think he’s a little bit frustrated — he wasn’t playing necessarily how he thinks he can play.

“But, he’s coming off a tough injury and that’s not easy to do. When you’re out for that long, it’s very difficult to come back. He has played stretches this year where he has played really good hockey and produced a lot.”

Svechnikov acquitted himself better than expected at camp considering he hadn’t played in a year. He had a goal and two assists in the Griffins’ season opener Oct. 5. The Wings called him up and brought him on their mid-October trip to western Canada, though he did not appear in the lineup.

Evgeny Svechnikov of the Detroit Red Wings skates during warmups prior to playing the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre on March 24, 2018 in Toronto.(Photo: Claus Andersen, Getty Images)

They sent him back to Grand Rapids, where he had one assist in two games, and recalled him again, but.had no points in four games. Three days before he was to realize his dream of playing against his brother, Andrei, a forward with the Carolina Hurricanes — and two days before his birthday — the Wings reassigned Svechnikov to the minors.

Svechnikov is no longer waiver exempt, so he’ll be with the Wings when next season begins. (There was a report out of Russia in February that Svechnikov could play in the KHL next season, but the Wings have received no such indication, and Svechnikov has talked of what a dream it would be to play in the NHL since he was drafted.)

He will have to battle to find a role in the bottom six, where competition is expected to include restricted free agents Adam Erne, Christoffer Ehn and Dmytro Timashov, and veterans Frans Nielsen, Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm and Luke Glendening.

Svechnikov should be able to push especially Abdelkader for a job, though, because of how ineffective Abdelkader has been the past two years. He has 22 points and a minus-28 rating in his past 120 games, and was a healthy scratch at least five times this season. Although the three years left on his contract make a buyout prohibitive, general manager Steve Yzerman is likely to waive Abdelkader and send him to the minors, which would clear a roster spot.

After five years, it’s high time for the Wings to find out what they have in Svechnikov — whether he can be a net-front presence, chip in a few goals, and be a lower-echelon part of the rebuild.